A DISTURBANCE IN JUPITER'S CLOUDS

Even though Jupiter could not ignite into a Sol sized star, couldn't it at least develope into a smaller one? Keeping with the scale of things, Jupiter and its moons could be a mini solar system. With that in mind, just how large would the mini sun actually have to be?

I still don't think it'll turn into one, however. It's interesting, but doubtful.

Originally posted by allwayslooken
how about could it be set on fire

No, you need an environment with oxygen (O2) for fire. Jupiter's atmosphere is hydrogen (H2) with helium (He). And since space contains nothing there is also no oxygen there. Therefore Jupiter can not be set on fire.

Originally posted by soothsayer
The book 2010.
It is a known fact that Jupiter radiates more energy than it takes in...

all the gas giants do that. it's because they're all just so dense and the pressure of the atmospheres create heat, which then radiates out.

as for it not burning, yeah, there's not enough oxygen. jupiter only has trace amounts of it. there's more methane and ammonia in the atmosphere than there is oxygen.

arthur c clarke is one of my favrite authors (along with larry niven) and the thought of 2010 and lucifer did pop into my mind. i didn't mention it though because someone else mention lucifer up top.

also, in reviewing some notes and books i have because europa melting into another earth i found that europa is mainly a giant ball of carbon dioxide. it is speculated though that it may have subsurface (meaning 60+ miles down) oceans. we would have better luck turning saturn into a star (even though it still wouldn't be possible) for the purposes of turning titan into a new earth.

Originally posted by soothsayer
Even though Jupiter could not ignite into a Sol sized star, couldn't it at least develope into a smaller one? Keeping with the scale of things, Jupiter and its moons could be a mini solar system. With that in mind, just how large would the mini sun actually have to be?

no, it still wouldn't even have enough mass to become even a red dwarf star. red dwarfs have about half the mass of the sun's. jupiter's mass is 1.900 x 10^27 kg
while the sun's is 2 X 10^30. though yes, in essence, any planet with a moon system can be comparable to the solar system.